A Philadelphia man who was shot and disabled when he was six years old has filed suit against Wachovia Bank, charging that the bank charged "sweep fees" for funds held in mutual funds set up with donations at the time of the shooting.
Ralph Brooks, Jr. charges that the bank misrepresented or omitted to mention the existence and amount of the fees. The suit seeks class action status on behalf of all beneficiaries of fiduciary accounts for which the bank was corporate fiduciary whose assets were invested by the Bank in Evergreen Funds.
Also named as defendants in the suit are: Evergreen Investment Services, Inc., Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC and Evergreen Distributors, Inc.
In 1988, when Brooks was six years old, he was shot near his home in North Philadelphia, leaving him paralyzed. In the wake of the shooting, The Philadelphia Daily News and Power 99 radio station ("WUSL-FM") publicized Brooks' plight and began to raise funds for his benefit.
Ultimately, more than $81,000 was raised and deposited with a predecessor of Wachovia Bank in a trust account for Brooks.
Brooks claims in the suit that the bank improperly used the assets in his and other fiduciary accounts to buy shares of the various captive Evergreen Funds for these accounts despite the availability of other mutual funds, such as those offered by the Vanguard Group or Fidelity Investments which were well-managed, had good reputations and had lower expenses than the Evergreen Funds.
He also claims that because the bank incurred no expenses in "sweeping" fiduciary accounts such as his, the bank's "sweep fees" were unreasonable and, as with other charges to his account, "double dipping."
The complaint alleges that the bank distributed Evergreen Funds prospectuses that misrepresented material facts and omitted material facts regarding conflicts of interest, the expenses that would be absorbed by the beneficiaries and the failure of the Trustees of the Evergreen Funds to seek advisory and administrative services in the best interests of the holders of Evergreen Funds shares.
Brooks is being represented by attorneys Richard D. Greenfield and Ann Miller.
